Courageous Light
by AoifeUnudottir
Summary: Things are going downhill. Taichi is back, Hikari is cold and Yamato's in hospital, can things get worse? Sequel to Fruitloop Troopers 'The Search for Light' On Hiatus - due for rewrite!
1. Prologue

H-4-T: Hey everybody!

Well after a formal e-mail (in which I probably made myself appear to be an idiot or a spoilt rich girl) to Fruitloop Trooper I am able, with Fruitloop's permission, to write a sequel to her story 'The Search for Light'. If you don't read it before you read this, you may get a little confused. The first section in italics came from chapter fifteen of 'The Search for Light' and all I have done is copied and pasted the text. I don't own that bit.

Come to think of it, I don't own Digimon either.

Oh yeah and IceWolf17 has written a sequel to this too called 'The Search for Courage'.

This is _my_ version.

-----

_Mimi put Miko to bed. Her beautiful daughter was exhausted. After Venom Myotismon was destroyed, people started to come back to the city. The Emperor himself even thank the Digidestined. Then came the reporters, they were celebrities over night. Mimi just wished her husband was here to see it._

"It isn't fair!" Mimi thought, "He worked so hard for this day, and now he isn't even here to see it."

The former Dark Knights had now become honorary Digidestined. Matt had picked up where Tai had left off, leading them. He was quite good at it, not as good as Tai had been, but...

Mimi walked over to where her mail had been lying for the past few hours. She smiled as she opened the first letter. It was from Sora. A picture from her tour. It was her turn now to travel around the island, telling their story to reporters, talk show hosts, anyone who would listen, and that was plenty.

Mimi opened the next letter. It was from Kari. Mimi eagerly opened it. They hadn't heard form Kari for over a month now. She just left, no explanation at all, just something about the Digiworld.

Mimi opened the letter and read it. Her eyes went wide. "What? Tai?"

---

"Will you stop doing that?" a young woman yelled. "Geez, it's bad enough that I've been looking after you for the past month, and now you are just pushing me over the limit!"

"What can I say?" an older boy asked. "I'm a tease." He struck a pose and she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Come on," she said, turning on her heel and walking off.

"Why?"

"Elecmon says dinner is ready," she called over her shoulder, not stopped or slowing, "and you wouldn't want to miss that, would you?"

"Of course not," he said, rushing after her, "as long as you didn't partake in the cooking of it." She slapped him playfully on the arm.

"Grow up!"

"In fact I think I grew up a lot faster than you did," he answered. She scowled at him sarcastically.

"Just get inside," she said, pushing him through the doors they had walked to.

---

"Iz, are you sure there's no way to get back there?" Mimi asked, slightly exasperated.

"Yes, I'm certain, Mimi," he said softly. "I'm sorry. And how do you even know that the letter is from Kari? It could just be a hoax. People do that. Some people are that sad. I'm sorry, I know how much you want him back, but you saw the body afterwards. You know as well as I do that Digimon get reborn, we don't." She lowered her head.

"Yeah, I'm sorry Izzy," she apologised. "But I just read the letter and didn't think. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kept you up this late. I'll…I'll just be leaving."

"You don't have to," he called after her, even though he hadn't wanted to say it. She stopped and turned to face him.

"I'd love to stay but Miko's in bed and if she wakes up and finds me gone…" She let out a heavy sigh. "Night Izzy."

---

Takeru was, yet again, moping around his house doing nothing in particular. He was eighteen in a few months and so was Hikari. Their birthday fell on the same day, but Hikari was older by a few hours.

He never forgotten that.

And he never would.

-----

H-4-T: A VERY short prologue, but I want to get this story moving. More details will come about the other characters as the story progresses. I promise I will try to put as many characters in the next one as I can!s


	2. Is it really you?

Disclaimer: I don't own digimon, and the prequel to this is "The Search for Light" by Fruitloop Trooper who has given me permission to write this sequel.

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_She was moving down the corridor to the cells, following the orders given to her. Along the corridor she saw two of the prisoners and a cloaked figure._

"_Meramon, attack them," she ordered. The fire digimon nodded and sent of a fireball. _

_Tai was about to jump out of the window when the blast hit the wall near the window._

"_Huh?" a koromon asked as he spotted the meramon. The cloaked figure looked confused as he too noticed her._

_"Another one?" the cloaked man asked. "A Dark Knight of Fire."_

_Tai looked into her eyes and his own chocolate orbs softened._

_"Do I know you?" he asked._

_She started to point her hand at Tai, but hesitated. Something wasn't letting her._

_"I DO know you," Tai said, when the cloaked man grabbed him and jumped out the window. And she was left alone to ponder what she had just let free._

Sora awoke with a start and wiped the cold sweat off her brow. She sat up and placed a hand on her chest as she breathed deeply and steadily to regain control of her breathing actions.

It had been a long two years for her, and she had not got away from the incident with Myotismon lightly. She still had dreams about when she was the Dark Knight of Fire and when she, Matt and Kari were stranded in the Gobi Desert.

Her thoughts drifted to the young brunette and she let out a sigh. Hikari had, after the defeat of Myotismon, disappeared to the Digital World with no other clues. The only thing they had heard from her after that was a letter a month later to Mimi stating something about Tai, that was all Sora could gather when Mimi had given her an excited phone call, but she wouldn't tell anyone else what was in the letter. The strangest thing was that it was hand-written and it had no stamps on it, which meant that it had been hand-delivered by someone.

But that had been a whole twenty-four months ago. There had been no contact with Hikari since then, but nothing more on the digimon situation had occurred. There had also been a change in the Digital Gates that allowed them to travel between worlds. They had been completely blocked off and rendered useless. The Digidestineds' partners, however, were still with them and living quietly amongst the community.

Miko was handling life without her father better than anyone had originally thought she would. Now at the age of eight she was fitting into a single-parented life quite well. But she, like many of the other children in Tokyo, had nightmares about the incident. She saw her father in each and every one of them. She always woke up in tears and, for this reason, Mimi would never hire a public babysitter but would ask around the close Digidestined she knew and see if they could look after her daughter on the rare occasions when she went out.

Tonight had been a trip to the cinema, but Sora had not felt up to going. The nightmares she had been getting were gradually worsening, and the amount of sleep she got each night was decreasing. She was in pain, but she wouldn't tell anyone.

She stood up from where she had been asleep on Mimi's sofa and was thankful for the light from the television. Glancing at the clock she noticed it was about midnight, which worried her. Mimi should have been back by now and she should have woken her up.

She walked to the bathroom but, on the way, she passed Miko's bedroom. From inside she heard crying and talking. Intrigued she opened the door and gasped when she saw Miko on the bed, thrashing wildly.

---

She was watching from a distance a scene downtown. Her mother and all her mother's friends, except Sora, were there too. There was a tall digimon in front of them, threatening to attack and kill them. Without their partners they were powerless and were fear-stricken.

Just as the large lasers on the digimon's sides started glowing an eerie dark purple with blue electric sparks surrounding it, a ball of fire and a beam of bright, white light hit it.

Two figures in black cloaks landed on the shoulders of the menacing digimon and, from their hands came powers of sorts. The taller, a male, had balls of fire rapidly landing on the digimon's shoulder while the shorter, a female with long, brown hair shown by two strands that flew out, unhidden from the cloak, had a beam of light that wrapped itself around the digimon.

"Miko!" a voice called. She tried to locate it but found no one.

"Miko!" it called again. But she saw nothing to indicate that anyone knew she was there.

"MIKO!"

She sat up in her bed and looked into Sora's worried face.

"What did you see?" she asked. The young girl caught her breath before answering.

"It wasn't a memory," she stated, her voice breathy. "It was more like…a vision. It was downtown. Mom and her friends, except you, were all there and there was this big monster. And I saw him. I saw daddy."

"Come on, I'll make you a hot chocolate and you can tell me more," Sora suggested. Miko nodded and got out of bed.

She sat on the sofa while Sora made her a drink and she stared at the quiet television which was showing some sappy romance-movie.

But it stopped suddenly and a news reporter came on the screen.

"We interrupt this programme for a special news warning," the woman said. "Just recently a large digimon appeared in the middle of Odiaba outside the city's cinema complex. A group of young adults are in need of urgent rescue. If any Digidestined are watching this, do what you did two years ago. Please, save Odiaba." The screen switched to an image of the digimon and Miko gasped.

"Sora!" she yelled. "Sora! That's it! That's the digimon I saw in my dream!" Sora came rushing in and looked at the screen.

"Are you certain?" Miko nodded. "All right. Go and get Palmon, I'll get Biyomon and get dressed. We're going to save them."

---

Mimi stared up at the large monster in fear. She was now worried more for Miko's life than hers, even though the young girl was tucked up in bed. If she died, and the odds looked as though she was going to, then her little girl would have to grow up with no real parents at all.

The lasers on the side started charging up and she took a few steps backwards. She glanced over her shoulder and found the others doing the same thing.

There was the screech of a bird and everyone glanced over to see Garudamon with two figures flying towards them.

"Mom!" a young girl called. Mimi opened her eyes wide.

"Miko! What are you doing?"

"She's with me!" Sora called back. The large bird looked as though it were going to give off an attack, but a charged laser shot it down from the sky.

Miko screamed and clung to Sora tightly.

At the last second Garudamon yelled "jump" and they did. The landing was a little rough for all of them and Garudamon turned back to Biyomon, lying on the ground, unconscious.

"Mimi!" Sora yelled as she tossed the girl's digivice to her. Mimi caught it and the little, plant-like form of Palmon started to glow.

"Palmon digivolve to…Togemon!" Then the large cactus glowed again. "Togemon digivolve to…Lilymon!" The digimon now looked like a woman with a flower-like dress.

She put her two hands together and they formed a cannon.

"Flower cannon!" she yelled and a blast of energy went flying at the monster.

But the large digimon used a giant paw to swat it back at them and Lilymon, like Garudamon, fell from the sky and returned to Palmon.

"This is not good," Joe muttered as Sora and Miko joined them. All of them wanted to run, but none of them could.

Then there was a large blast of fire that hit the digimon's large shoulder followed by a beam of light. Two figures in long, flowing black cloaks landed on the shoulders, one slightly shorter than the other.

The taller, obviously male, shot balls of fire until burns and blisters appeared on the scaly skin while the shorter, a woman with two pieces of long hair flowing infront of the cloak hood, had a beam of light coming from her hands. It wound its way around the shoulders and all the way down to the feet, so it looked as though it had been bandaged in a glow-in-the-dark kit. The large monster toppled forwards and the man flipped off before the monster could hit the ground. The woman, however, walked backwards so she would still be able to stand when the scaly monster lay face-down of the floor.

The glowing bonds pulsed with white light and they seemed to tighten. The monster let out a cry of pain and, after a few seconds, it exploded into pieces of data that flew into the air. A portal appeared in the air and the data went through it before it closed again, leaving the stars and moon in the night sky to smile contentedly down on the world.

"Who are you?" Sora whispered. Miko walked past her and studied the man. She then lunged forwards and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Daddy!" she squealed. The man nodded and stroked her hair.

"Yes, Miko, I'm back," he whispered. He pulled his hood back to reveal shot, chocolate hair and deep, hazel eyes.

Takeru, being near the front, stood infront of the girl. He tried to catch a glimpse of her face under her hood, but it was too dark.

"Is it you?" he whispered as the others surrounded the newly revealed Taichi. She just looked at him.

"I'm sorry," she whispered before turning and running off. Near the end of the street she kicked off the ground and flew into the distance.

Takeru watched her fly off until he could not see her any more and then he turned back to welcome Taichi back to the 'family'.

When he realised that his female counterpart was not with him, however, he suddenly looked worried.

"Where did she go?" he asked, although it was obviously (to Takeru) directed at him.

"She flew off," the blonde replied. Taichi sighed. He then knelt down and looked at Miko.

"Miko, honey, I need to go after…my friend, ok?" She nodded but looked as though she was going to cry.

"Are you coming back again?"

"Yes, I am," he answered, "and you won't have to wait two years this time." She nodded with a smile. He then turned to Takeru.

"Which was did she go?"

"She just ran down that street and then took off," he explained. Taichi nodded before following the path that the woman had taken before him.

"You think that was Hikari, don't you?" Sora's voice asked. He turned to see her standing behind him.

"No, I don't," he answered. "I know that was Hikari."

---

He landed on the roof of the hotel where they had been staying and walked through the roof entrance door and down three flights of stairs until he came to the room he and his sister were staying in.

He opened the door and heard gentle sobs coming from one of the bedrooms. Closing the door he then took his shoes and cloak off before walking to his sister's room.

"Kari?" he asked gently. "It's me, Tai. Can I come in?" He waited a few seconds but, when he received no reply, he entered anyway.

He found his sister curled up in a ball resting against the wall, her head on her knees.

"What's the matter?" he asked, sitting next to her. He placed an arm around her shoulders and waited for her to calm down.

"It's n-well…ok, there's no point saying it's nothing, is there?"

"No there isn't. Spill."

"It's just…you've got a family to go back to," she answered. "You've got your wife, your daughter and your sister. I've got my brother. That's it. I mean I'm not saying that you're not the best brother I could ever ask for, but I just feel…left out. You'll be immediately welcomed back into the group because of Mimi, and I've really got no ties there at all."

"What are you on about?" he asked, wiping away a tear. "You've got me, your sister-in-law Mimi, your niece Miko then there's Matt and Sora who you were with for at least nine years in the desert. Hell Matt's probably more of your brother than I am. Then that Miyako girl, she looks about your age. I'm sure she'll be your friend. Davis took a real liking to you and I'm not even going to get started on T.K. See? You will be welcomed back."

"But I just left with no clue as to why. They probably think I hate them."

"They won't, I'm sure," he replied. "Anyway once we explain what's been going on I'm sure they'll all understand. I'll tell you what, we'll go and see them tomorrow and explain everything then. I'm certain none of them will hate you. It was you that saved Japan."

"Yeah and we've already seen how they treated me there, haven't we?" she said with a little sarcasm in her suddenly cold voice. He squeezed her shoulders.

"That was Tokyo, not the whole of Japan. I'm sure everyone's had that at a time," he said softly. "But we just need to pick ourselves up and keep smiling. If you keep doing this I'll be sending you back to Gennai. I don't want you in that Ocean again." She nodded.

"I understand, onii-chan," she replied. "You stay at Mimi's tonight. Just spend the night talking with her. Get to know what you've missed."

"I'm not leaving you here on your own," he said.

"Well I'm not letting you stay here with me," she replied. "Go and spend the night at your old place."

"You're not staying here alone," he repeated.

"Yes I am, now go!"

"Hikari-"

"Tai, don't make me do something I'm going to regret." Her hands started glowing and he sighed. She might have been younger than him, but her powers surpassed his and he knew she could overpower him easily. His fire was strong, but she could manipulate her light into almost anything. He looked into her crimson eyes but they were strangely blank, as though she had learnt how to hide her emotion from them too. She had changed a lot over the past two years and Taichi finally realised, in that second, that she needed to be alone now more than ever. But, at the same time, she needed her friends.

"Fine," he said with another sigh, "I'll go. But you've got to meet me in the park at midday tomorrow. Agreed?"

"Agreed," she said. "Now go!"

"I'm going! I'm going!" he joked. She laughed a little bit, but he could have sworn it was a strained laugh. Something was going on with her and he needed to sort it out. He walked out of the hotel room (where they were staying due to the lack of parents) and closed the door behind him, shooting a final worried glance at his younger sibling. He then glanced at his watch and smiled to himself.

"Time for a little detour," he said. With that he went to the roof and flew towards a familiar flat.

---

Sora Takenouchi in front of her vanity table in her bedroom brushing her shoulder-length auburn hair gently.

She couldn't help thinking about what she had just seen.

"_Daddy!"_

"_Yes, Miko, I'm back."_

Taichi was back, and it was playing with her head and her heart. Before he had 'died', she had loved him, and over the years she had been guilt-ridden for years knowing that she had never told him and never would, because he and Mimi were married. It had driven her mad.

And then he had come back. He seemed so insecure. She had wanted nothing more than to run into his arms and tell him everything would be all right and that she was glad to be alive. But she couldn't. Mimi had been there, and Miko had beaten her there anyway.

She knew she was going to have to get over him, but she just couldn't.

Then there had been the conversation with Takeru.

"_You think that was Hikari, don't you?"_

"_No I don't. I know that was Hikari."_

There had been nothing, except the two bits of brown hair and the fact she was with Taichi, to say that she was Hikari, but Takeru had been certain, and even Sora had felt that it was her. But she had not caught the woman's face, and the whisper was too quiet for her to determine if it was Hikari's voice.

Things were so confusing.

There was a knock and she put the hairbrush back on the vanity table before going to answer the door.

There was no one there.

Confused she closed the door and then she heard the knocking again. But she realised it wasn't coming from the front door.

She walked through to the front room and gasped when she saw the cloaked figure on the balcony.

She quickly slid the door back and allowed the person inside.

Once the door was closed the figure pulled back the hood and he smiled nervously.

"Can we talk?" he asked. She nodded and gestured to the sofa next to her. The two sat down. "Look…I'm sorry for just barging in on you like this, but I need to ask you a favour. It's about Hikari."

"What about her?"

"I'm sure you know by now that she was my partner," he explained and she nodded. "Well she's not faring too well. She's hiding too much and I…I wasn't with her for nine years and you were. Plus you're a girl and…as you can tell, I'm not. I need someone who can get through to her. She's too enclosed."

"Do you know why?"

"I don't," he replied. "See how bad at being a brother I am? I don't even know what's wrong with her! I'm useless."

"No you're not," she reasoned. "I'll bet you're the best big brother in the world, and you're just perfect for her. So what if you're a little overprotective? Who cares if you worry about her? Who wouldn't? After all you've been through you're going to have a strong bond, and if you're used to having to search for the things you want to find then you'll never notice the things that are right infront of you." He nodded.

"Thanks, Sora," he said. "So how've you been coping?"

"Oh, you know, the usual…"

---

She enjoyed flying. It was the one time when she could feel at peace.

A faint voice called an attack and a flash of yellow light in the distance caused her to wake up from her trance. She looked forwards and saw Angemon swerving to the side. He fired a hand of fate and then swooped back amongst the trees ahead.

'No rest for the wicked,' she thought to herself. She pulled her hood up and forced herself forwards, her cloak billowing out behind her.

She reached the clearing and prepared herself to attack when she noticed something odd.

She hid atop a tree and watched. Where she had expected to find a group of the Digidestined fighting a rogue digimon she saw only Takeru and Angemon.

"I think I saw her," Angemon said, "but I'm not sure. I sent that attack down and flew back before I could get a proper glance."

"That's ok," Takeru replied. "I mean she might not even be flying."

"But I thought Sora said that Taichi told her that she loved flying," Angemon replied, stretching his wings and twirling his staff.

'So Tai put them up to this, did he?' she thought, slightly angry. Her fists started glowing slightly, but she didn't notice.

"I know," the younger blonde said as he rested against a tree. "I just wish I knew why she took off like that. I just want to talk to her." Angemon glowed and returned to Patamon.

"Maybe she's just having problems at the moment," he suggested.

"I do not have problems!" she yelled, and then clamped a slightly glowing hand over her mouth. Takeru had, obviously, heard the cry and looked up to the tree. Hikari pushed away from the tree and, letting her hand fall to her side, she let out a sigh before flying down to the ground.

She landed in a crouching position and she let her cloak fall behind her before she stood. She then pulled her hood back and looked at Patamon.

"I do not have problems," she repeated, slightly quieter. Takeru stood and walked towards her.

"Hikari…" he said, almost inaudibly. She looked into his eyes for only a few seconds before she had to tear her gaze away. "What's wrong? Have I done something? If I have then I'm sorry-"

"No, it's not you," she answered. "It's me." She took off her cloak and set it on the ground. She then sat down and rested against a tree trunk, patting the ground for the blonde to sit down.

"I just left two years ago with the only clue being that I was going to the digital world. Then we – the gates closed a month later, just after I delivered a letter to Mimi. That was the last time I was on Earth until now. I've been living there with my brother and…and I could've contacted you, but I didn't." He looked at her and studied just how much she had matured.

She still looked like she had when he had seen her two years ago, but her hair had grown from her back to her knees, which she kept in a plait save for two small sections that were swept behind her ears. Her eyes were full of trouble and masked pain and it was obvious that she was not the same happy nineteen-year-old that he remembered. She was a lot less cheerful, but it was obvious she tried to hide it. Either with a smile or with the hood of her cloak.

"Listen I don't think you hate us," he said. "I sincerely think that you had your reasons. If you didn't contact us then you didn't contact us. I can live with that, everyone else has. And it wasn't your fault that the gates closed, it just happened like that and-"

"But it was my fault!" she exclaimed. She then sighed and glanced sideways at him. He was looking at her, extremely confused. "When I first went through to the digital world I went about helping to restore all the villages. A month or two, Digital time, I reached Primary Village. That's where I found out that Tai had been reborn there and was growing rapidly to reach the age he was supposed to be. He was around six at the time. He had all his old memories though, so he knew well enough what to do if an opposing digimon came along."

"Which it did?" Hikari scoffed.

"Of course. We battled it and won, but our digimon were really weak afterwards. After a debate they gave themselves up so that they could close the digital gates. Taichi was in no fit state at the time to make the decision, the digimon were wounded and Gennai wasn't going to choose for us. So I chose, as there was no way they were going to be saved.

"They told us that we could take some of their data into us. It would prevent them being reborn in Primary Village, but it would make Taichi and I stronger and it would improve our skills in everything. Taichi and I said no, but it took less data then expected to close the link between worlds, so there was more of each of them left over. Gennai told us that the data was not able to be deleted as it had been to this world, and the only way to get rid of it would be to take it inside ourselves. He told us, at the time, that it would change our physical appearance slightly."

"But it gave you powers," Takeru said softly, "didn't it?" She nodded.

"Taichi's powers of fire were obvious, as Agumon and his evolutions were fire-based digimon. But Gatomon wasn't a fire digimon or…well…she didn't have a specific base. She was just cat-like. So now I've got this ability to always land on my feet and I have the power to manipulate light." He nodded, taking it all in.

"So…er…what's with the cloak?" he asked. "If it's personal you don't have to day, but I'm just interested."

"Well at first I was afraid of my powers, and when Taichi used his on impulse one time the whole village he was in looked at him as though he was a freak. The cloaks hide our identities when we used our powers, and then we could go through the same village without fear of discrimination. Taichi wasn't as bad as I was about it, but he wore it so that I wouldn't get mad at him." Takeru chuckled a little, knowing how much Hikari's opinion had always counted to Taichi.

"So…" he said gently. He sucked in his breath to say something else when Hikari jumped up and pulled him to the ground a little way away, her cloak in her hands. He was about to ask what when a red beam hit the ground. There was a low growl and a shadow jumped across the trees of the small clearing.

"Can you tell the future or something too?"

"No," she said, standing up. "I just heard it coming." When he looked confused, she added, "Gatomon's sensitive hearing."

"Digimon don't attack without announcing it," Patamon mused.

"That wasn't a digimon," Hikari whispered. She looked at Takeru and smiled apologetically. "Look, I'm going to have to go, but it's been…it's been great to talk to you again." He nodded. She gave him a parting hug and then turned and took a few quick steps forwards before kicking off hard and flying in the direction of the figure, putting on her cloak as she went.

"I've missed her so much," Takeru whispered.

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H-4-T: Ok. Well I hope that most of my chapters are going to be this long. I'm aiming for about 4,000+ words a chapter, but the least will be 3,000. Of course, there will be occasions where I will have short chapters, but I should explain any reasons why.

ANNOUNCEMENT!

Also for all those awaiting chapters on my previous stories, I'm afraid you might have to wait a while. You see the monitor that was connected to my hard drive with my stories on went kaput on the inside, and that knocked out the graphics card. I know have updated from Windows 98 (the currently broken one) to a Windows 2000 system (although I'd much rather have XP).

The plan of action is to get a little gizmo (I love that word) that will allow me to access the other hard drive through the 2000 system, meaning that you will get your chapters and I, effectively, will have two hard drives, one with an official copy of MS Word on it. This one need to be registered and I only have 17 trial periods left.

Well sayonara!

NOTE:

Thank you to Fruitloop Trooper who corrected Miko's age. I was only one year out, so that's not too bad, right?


	3. You Hypocryte, Taichi!

Well I firstly need to say something. While (I think) Fuitloop Trooper used the American dub name Kamiya for Taichi and Hikari. I'm afraid that I'm going to use Yagami. I usually (if not always) use the Yagami surname so it's easier for me.

And this may/may not be a Takari. It could, of course, turn into a completely different shipping all together.

Disclaimer: You've heard it before. Don't own, can't sue, don't flame because I will use them to roast marshmallows.

Mmm…roasted marshmallows…yummy…

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Taichi awoke the next morning with a feeling of anxiety and worry. There was a dull pain across his left cheek and his knuckles felt as though he'd been punching a brick wall.

There was a soft groan and he looked down at the brown-haired beauty who was lying on his arm.

"Morning," he said, kissing her forehead lightly.

"Morning," she said back softly. She ran her hands across his bare chest and smiled slightly. "Sleep well?"

"Best night I've had in a long time," he said. "You?"

"Same," she said. "It's good to have you back." He kissed her hair softly.

"I love you, Mimi," he whispered.

"I love you too."

They stayed on the bed for a while before Taichi let out a sigh.

"What's wrong?" Mimi asked, sitting up and looking at him. The quilt around them fell away and Taichi couldn't help but smile at the large, yellow, smiley face in the middle of her pink two-piece pyjamas.

"I don't know," he stated. "I just woke up this morning, a little before you did, and I just had this really bad feeling, y'know? Like I know something bad is gonna happen." She nodded.

"Well I'll fix you some breakfast and then you can go investigate," she said. He nodded and got out of the bed, feeling his old flannel pyjama bottoms around his legs. He always got too hot in bed so he had a tendency to sleep with no shirt. Mimi didn't mind in slightest, and if she did she never mentioned it.

He pulled out a white tank-top from the clothes that Mimi had kept (he was, for once, glad that she was extremely sentimental) and quickly put it on before leaving to go to the front room.

"Daddy!" A small blur tackled him, and it was almost enough to knock him over.

"Aren't you getting a little old to be calling me that?" he asked, ruffling her hair. She shook her head as he picked her up off the ground.

"Nope!" she exclaimed proudly. He smiled and lifted her high into the air before spinning her round and placing her on the sofa. Miko giggled a little before going back to the kitchen that her mother had just walked into.

He walked over to the sofa and watched the children's cartoons that were showing. He sat just as one started the credits. By the time the credits finished a voice broke him out of his trance-like manner.

"So what do you think is wrong?" Mimi's voice sounded so close. He whirled around and then brought his hands to his skull as it impacted with his wife's. "I always forget about that." He laughed a little.

"Well I don't know exactly, but I think it has something to do with Kari." He paled slightly and a hand reached to his cheek. He stood up quickly and headed for the door. "I think she was – possibly is – in trouble. I'm sorry, Mimi, but I've got to go. I've got to find her and-"

"You won't help anybody if you pass out from hunger," Mimi said sternly. "Sit and eat."

"Mimi I've lasted weeks without-"

"Eat." She ordered. He turned to the kitchen and found a plate with two slices of bacon and a fried egg. Two slices of toast lay on the side, both lightly toasted and heavily buttered. Just the way he liked it.

"Mimi how did you make all this?" Mimi smiled brightly.

"Oh I didn't," she said. "I think you'll find you need to thank Miko." The young girl smiled sheepishly as she came out of the kitchen.

"You can cook?" he asked. Miko nodded.

"Mom taught me," she said softly. Taichi sent a final, pleading glance at Mimi, who stared back with ordering eyes and he sighed. He walked over to the kitchen table and sat down, aware of the two pairs of eyes on him. He took a bite of the bacon and looked quite impressed.

"You're cooking is better than your mom's," he said as he turned around to address Miko. Mimi walked over and cuffed him over the head before going back into the kitchen. Miko smiled and sat next to her father at the table, simply watching as he ate.

'Yes,' Taichi thought, 'it's good to be back.'

---

She opened her eyes slightly, slowly, and the snapped them back shut again as the harsh light of day burned through her pupils. Her body ached all over and she had a throbbing, pounding headache.

Despite the silent – yet painful – protests of her body, she rolled onto her side and pushed herself up onto her arms as much as she could. She opened her eyes and saw green grass staring back at her. Footsteps neared her and her heart raced in her ears, but she didn't care.

"Whoa, easy, easy," a voice said softly. It was a female voice, and she caught a glance of lilac hair dangling down out of the corner of her eye. "Stay as still as you can, ok? I need you to just relax for me. All right? Now I'm going to have to take off your cloak, ok?" She saw two hands reach around to undo the clasps that held her cloak on. "So if I just-"

"No!" she yelled, although it hurt her ears. A pair of hands, to strong to be females, gripped her shoulders softly but firmly.

"Easy there," the boy said. "Look we're just trying to help. We can't do anything if you've got your cloak on. We need to check to see if you've got any bad wounds." She tried to yell out again but her head started feeling as though it was going to cave in and her voice got lost in her throat. The cloak was taken off and she closed her eyes in anticipation. Now whoever was trying to help her knew who she was and they would most likely tell everyone in the city. She would have to move again. She hated moving.

"Hikari?" the boy whispered and she saw a glimpse of the corner of her cloak being placed infront of her. Her eyes opened in fear and confusion.

"I-I have to g-go," she said hoarsely. She quickly raised herself to her feet and she grabbed her cloak. She started to walk off but swayed sideways. The two people caught her and a third took her cloak from her hands.

"It is, it know it is," the young man on her left said.

"Let's get her to Takeru," the woman instructed. "He'll know what to do with her." She felt herself being dragged forwards a few steps and then they stopped.

"This isn't working," a third voice, a male's but slightly younger than the one on her left. "There has to be another way to get her to Takeru's."

"I got it," the elder boy said. She felt herself shifted and soon felt the familiar position of a piggy-back ride. Her brother had given them to her all the time when she was younger.

"Hurry up, Dai, that cut on her cheek is gonna get infected real easily," the girl stated. She felt the boy, Dai, nod.

"Then let's get moving," Dai stated. He started walking and the people helping her started a quiet conversation. But the pain in her limbs and her head was soon too much and she passed out.

---

Takeru sat on the sofa, his eyes fixed on the television screen but his mind not registering what he was seeing.

"_What's wrong? Have I done something? If I have then I'm sorry-"_

"_No, it's not you. It's me."_

He had been so taken aback by her statement that he had almost forgotten how to speak. After all she had been through she still chose to bear the weight of her world, and everybody else's, on her shoulders.

But she was still afraid of what everyone else thought of her. She had told him, indirectly, of the fact when they had had the talk last night.

"_The cloaks hide our identities when we used our powers, and then we could go through the same village without fear of discrimination."_

It still mattered to her a great deal what people's views were of her, even if she didn't know them.

There was a sharp knock on the door and he jumped out of his skin at the sudden sound.

He got off the sofa and went to answer the door. He paled considerably at the sight.

His friends Miyako, Iori and Daisuke all stood before him, Iori with a dark, smooth cloak in his hands and Daisuke with a sleeping girl on his back.

"Can we come in?" Daisuke asked. Takeru nodded and stepped out of the way so the others could enter.

Daisuke carefully placed the sleeping (or rather, as Takeru noticed, unconscious girl on the sofa) and Iori placed her cloak under her shoulders to stop her neck from becoming sore from the angle it would have been.

As soon as they were finished, Takeru pulled them to the side and immediately rounded on them.

"What the hell happened?" he hissed.

"Chill, man," Daisuke started. "We just found a signal on our digivices and followed it. She was just coming round when we got there." He sighed heavily, running a hand through his blonde hair.

"No other clues as to how she got like that?" he asked. The others shook their heads. He then turned to Daisuke and patted him on the shoulder. "Davis…I'm sorry. I shouldn't have started on you like that."

"We're cool," the other replied in his typical, casual manner. Takeru nodded.

"Well, you take care of her, T.K," Miyako said as she headed for the door. The two boys followed. "We've only just got her back. I don't want to lose the opportunity of a new friend again." With that she sent Takeru a wink with a wide grin and left the apartment, the two boys still following.

He stared at Hikari for a few seconds before realising that he had to do something. He had to get in contact with Taichi. Yes. He'd know what to do.

As he darted to the phone he realised that he didn't know any way to get in contact with his former (self-appointed) leader. So he phoned the next-best person.

"Sora Takenouchi speaking."

"Sora, I've kind of got a little problem," he started. "It's T.K by the way."

"Hey T.K. So what's the problem?" He then explained the situation to her and she, thankfully, stayed silent as he talked. When he was finished he thought about the information he had just told her.

"So you want me to come over and see what's wrong," Sora summarised.

"If you could."

"I'm not making promises. Sure I was with her nine years but she was still pretty enclosed. I'll try my best though."

"Thanks, Sora, it's really appreciated." With that they shared goodbyes and hung up. He sent a glance at Hikari who was lying on the sofa, her eyes closed and her face portraying untold innocence.

To take his mind off the beautiful problem in his front room he went to the kitchen and started to cook his breakfast.

Just as he sat down to eat there was a knock at the door. He sighed, took a quick bite of his bacon sandwich and then went to answer the door.

Behind it stood a worried Taichi accompanied by Sora who stood slightly behind.

"Is she here?" the elder boy asked. Takeru nodded.

"Come in," he motioned. He then headed for the front room. "She was just-" But he was forced to stop abruptly as the young woman and her cloak were both gone, leaving only a small piece of folded paper addressed to him. He walked forwards slowly and took it.

_Dear Takeru_

_Thank you for caring for me for a little while, but I do not wish to impose upon you any longer than I have to. I will see you later._

_Hikari_

He scrunched the note up in his hand and let out a heavy sigh.

"What does it say?" Sora asked, placing her hands on his shoulders. He passed her the note and then collapsed on the sofa.

"When will she learn?" Taichi asked himself softly. "I'm sorry to have disturbed you, Takeru. I need to go and find my sister."

"You're not going without me," Sora said immediately. Takeru looked at Taichi who caught his gaze. The blonde shook his head.

"I have something urgent I need to do," he stated, "I'm sorry Tai."

"That's ok," he answered before turning to Sora. "You're gonna have to fly."

---

She hadn't gone back to the hotel. She had wanted to, but she hadn't. She had other things to do first.

She landed outside the Odaiba cemetery and she walked in. She looked around a little before she realised that she had no clue as to where she was supposed to be going.

Sighting one of the guards she walked over to him. He stopped raking the leaves and looked up at her, his ages face showing no compassion as she hid her face under the cloak. Removing the hood she spoke softly to him.

"Do you know where I can find the graves of Mr and Mrs Yagami?" she asked. He looked at her with a soft face.

"Aye, I do," he said. "They did this city a good deed. Now I'm not Christian, but may God bless them."

After a moments thought her gave her the directions. She gave her thanks and headed off to find her parents.

She followed the directions but, when she got there, she saw an unfamiliar woman dressed in black clothes place a bouquet of flowers down. Looking around Hikari noticed that the graves that were, apparently, her parents' had more flowers than most others.

"Thank you for what you did for this city," the woman was saying as she placed the flowers down. "You gave us hope when it was lost. Your children must be proud of you." She stood up and dusted herself off before turning to leave.

She caught Hikari staring at her and she bowed slightly, her blonde hair moving in a gentle, rogue breeze. Hikari glanced past her and looked at the names on the stones.

Jeri YagamiLily Yagami

1965-20051967-2005

For the hope he gaveFor the light she gave

Odaiba, may he restOdaiba, may she rest

in peacein peace

The gravestones were nothing spectacular, simply a pair of grey slabs with names engraved upon them with dates underneath. That's all you really were when you were dead. A memory to some, but just some carvings to others.

"Excuse me," she called after the woman. The blonde turned around and faced her with a smile.

"Yes?" she asked. Hikari walked over to her.

"Erm…I don't mean to be rude or anything…but what were you…um…this sounds so horrible," she stated. She then sighed. "You know what? Forget it. I just-"

"You wanted to know why I was at the gravestone," the woman said. "I hope I don't offend by this but where were you when Myotismon was here?"

"I…I was studying abroad in America," she lied. "I got into a car crash and I've only just come out of an eight-year coma. I don't really know much about what's going on." The woman nodded.

"Eight years?" she asked. Hikari nodded. "It's good to see that you're ok. Many wouldn't have survived eight years. Well Mr and Mrs Yagami had two children. One boy and one girl. I was lucky enough to have known their son, Taichi, prior to the dark incident. He and my eldest son were close friends. Anyway the digimon appeared and both my sons and Taichi were sent to save the world.

"But Myotismon came through to our world and started taking over Odaiba in search for what he called 'the Eighth child'. My son was visiting his father out of town and was, thankfully, out of the mess when it started.

"Nine years the terror continued and the Digidestined, Taichi and my boys as well as some other children around their ages, started a rebellion. Taichi sent my eldest son and his friend, Sora, away from Odaiba with the Eighth child when the mess started so that they would be safe. I think if he hadn't then I would only have one son at the moment.

"Mr and Mrs Yagami always had hopes that everything was going to be all right. Their daughter had disappeared and they had no clue as to where she was, so they only had their son. Nevertheless they always made people happier. They had their own burdens and yet they pushed them aside to help others. When Myotismon rounded everyone up in the convention centre, they started a rebellion that helped us break free. Myotismon didn't try to take us captive again; he just turned into an epigone of a ruler.

"The Yagamis always stood up to him. They started rebellions and strikes and took it upon themselves to help stop Myotismon. They didn't have digimon partners, like the Digidestined, but they had just as much of an impact.

"Then one day Myotismon decided it was enough. He found them and killed them." Hikari let out a little gasp. "But that wasn't the worst of it. He made their only remaining child watch as they died. It was terrible. I personally am glad that the young girl was not here to witness that.

"Anyway nine years after it started the Eighth child returned to Odaiba. The mess was ended but the young boy died. Hikari, their daughter, did return, but rumour has it she's completely disappeared now. She's got no family because both parents were only children and her grandparents have all died as well. I would honestly be surprised if she's carried on after all this time. It would show a real, true spirit if she had. It was two years ago when she came back. I would sincerely like to meet her." Hikari was silent for a few moments as she took in the woman's words.

"I've missed so much," she finally whispered. The woman nodded sadly.

"But you must have parents, right?" she asked. Hikari shook her head and gestured to the tombstones.

"My parents lie there," she continued, her voice extremely quiet. The woman raised a hand to her mouth in sadness and horror. She started to speak but Hikari stopped her. "Please, don't. I don't need sympathy. You've…you've really helped me today. You've told me just what I've missed while I was away. Thank you." She sent a silent goodbye to her parents before turning and walking away.

"Wait!" the blonde woman called after her. She stopped and turned around. "Listen my husband and I are divorced and my eldest son used to live with him. He's got a place of his own now. So I have a spare room. My younger son is trying to set up an apartment for himself so it's only me at the house. Would you like to stay with me for a while? I mean until you have yourself on your feet. You shouldn't be alone at a time like this."

She wanted to shout and scream at the woman for invading her private life. She wanted to yell that she was fine and that she didn't need any help. She wanted everyone to leave her alone for once, and she wanted to yell that to the world.

But instead she simply said "Yes, that would be nice, if it's ok with you." The woman smiled widely.

Her life had hit rock bottom.

"Well I'm Nancy," she stated, "Nancy Takaishi."

'Takaishi!' she thought.

"Yagami Hikari," she replied, bowing slightly.

Yup. Her life had hit rock bottom. Now she was starting to dig.

---

Yamato was back in Odaiba. He hadn't been in a long time, two years in fact, and he had lost time with his friends and family to make up for.

The death of Taichi had scarred him mentally, and he had still not fully recovered. Just when he thought he was getting over it something came along to jog his memory and stir forgotten emotions.

When Hikari had left he had been hurt worse. Over the nine years he got to know her one would think that he would come to love her as a sister. That would be a wrong assumption.

She had never been an open person and had rarely spoken of her inner demons when they were together for nine years. She had kept things to herself, but had taken up teaching herself gymnastics. With no books nor teachers it would be an obvious assumption that she would fail or stick with the easy things. But the sand had always been soft to her if she fell and she had learned things quite easily. He had always watched her while she practiced, noting the way she moved with apparent ease and the way she handled challenges easily. Back then it was as if nothing could faze her.

He had seen her mature, watched her grow and he had learned, through her, to open his heart of ice to love. Of course, she had been talking about Sora. But it was her that he was always thinking about.

He realised that he had walked subconsciously to his mother's apartment building. All he had to do was cross the road and he would see the maternal figure he had missed for most of his life.

His eyes were drawn to the entrance where a woman with shoulder-length blonde hair was walking with a girl younger than Yamato, who had brown hair kept back in a plait that brushed the back of her knees. They were not dressed extravagantly nor were they especially conspicuous, and the only reason he could think of that he had pinpointed the pair would have been because he knew them.

He recognised the blonde woman as his mother. She had changed while he had been away with his father and his band, but she was still definitely his mother. The younger woman with her, however, he could not place a name to, but he recognised her.

'Maybe if I could just see her face,' he thought. He glanced both ways to check the road was clear before running across to greet them.

There was a lane a little way up the he had forgotten about. A red Ferrari tore out of the lane and down the road, straight into the blonde.

There was a screech of tires and the car swerved to the left. It clipped Yamato who fell to the ground, hitting his head hard on the concrete road which left him unconscious. The car, acting as though nothing had happened, continued on down the road and out of sight at a fast pace.

The last thing Yamato saw was the faces of his mother and the brunette leaning over him before he passed out.

---

"Do you know where she is?" Sora asked. She was riding piggy-back style while Taichi was flying. She looked down and saw the road was empty except for a speeding red Ferrari driving out of Odaiba.

"I'm trying to sense her, but I can't pick up anything. Tracking people is more Hikari's area of expertise," he stated. "Wait a minute." He started flying faster and Sora realised the way they were heading was towards the cemetery.

He flew over his parents graves, pausing a little, and then shaking his head before doubling back on himself.

"I sensed her there, but she must have already left," he explained.

An ambulance with sirens and lights flashing drove at speed on the road underneath them. Taichi flew at a distance but followed.

They landed in a nearby alley and Taichi took off his cloak before the two left and went to see what the pandemonium was.

By the time they got there the ambulance crew were loading a familiar blonde onto a stretcher and into the ambulance. A blonde woman, quite a bit older than the young man in the ambulance, was being helped in by the ambulance crew and a brunette girl, but neither of them were close enough to see what was going on or see the girl's face. They saw the conversation between the girl and the blonde woman and the paramedics said something else, but over the noise of the crowd Sora and Taichi couldn't hear much.

The young girl nodded, said something to the blonde woman and then the doors closed. The ambulance started up and the crowd parted to let it out. The brunette girl ran from the crowd and into a small place behind the apartment block that was on the left of the road. The two lost sight of her. Had they continued to watch where she went, however, they would have seen a cloaked figure flying off into the distance.

---

She concentrated hard, trying to pick up on Takeru. She didn't really know him that well, and that made it a little harder, but her desperation to keep going made her continue her search.

He was in the park.

She swooped down when she reached him and picked him up under the arms. She lifted them both into the air and carried on towards the hospital.

"Takeru, it's only me," she said as he started to tense up. He relaxed a little. "I know you hate flying but something's happened to Yamato and we need to get to the hospital. I figured this was the fastest way."

"What's happened to him?" Takeru asked.

"He's been in a car accident," she stated, "hit and run incident and he hit his head hard. Wow. That was a lot of 'h's."

"Is he ok?"

"He and your mum are in an ambulance on their way to the hospital. We should get there just after they do." With that she picked up the pace as much as she could and flew flat out.

They arrived just as the ambulance pulled to a stop and Hikari placed Takeru down before landing next to him. She removed her cloak and grabbed the blonde's hand.

"Come on!" she said, pulling him after her.

"Mom!" he called. Hikari let him go and he ran into the arms of Nancy. Hikari ran up to them.

"Did he change in the ambulance?" she asked. Nancy shook her head.

"No, but he hit his head pretty badly on the ground and he's unconscious," she answered. "I'm really worried about him."

"Don't worry, mom, he'll be fine," Takeru reassured. "Let's get up there and make sure." He looked around and noticed that Hikari had already gone.

The brunette was hurriedly following Yamato as he was pushed through the building. The paramedics had slowed down to let her catch up and she had gripped his hand when she had got to him. It was surprising just how cold he was, but she hadn't let go. She didn't care about anything else at that moment, she just wanted to make sure he was ok, but the care went beyond friendship and beyond family-type love.

And then she realised it.

She had fallen for her friend.

---

The pair landed outside of the hospital and immediately rushed to the front desk.

"Ishida Yamato," Taichi stated breathlessly. "He's only just been brought in. Where is he?"

"Are you direct relations of Mr Ishida?" the woman behind the desk asked.

"We're close friends of the family," Sora stated, before Taichi could say anything. The woman nodded.

"Room 318," she stated. The two thanked her and took off.

When they finally reached room 318 (after many wrong turns and questions for directions) they walked inside and hesitated at what they saw.

Hikari was sitting in the chair next to the blonde on the bed, her feet resting on the edge of the seat while she rested her head on her knees, not taking her eyes off the unconscious boy and barely blinking.

"You don't think…" Sora started and then gestured to the pair through the window.

"Well I wouldn't be angry," Taichi replied. They then knocked on the door slightly before entering.

Hikari looked at Sora, who entered first, and smiled meekly, but her face turned to stone when she saw Taichi. This fact didn't go unnoticed, either.

"Are we the only ones here?" Taichi asked.

"No," Hikari answered, her voice a little icy. "Takeru and his mother are here too, but they've gone to get some drinks." She stood up and started to walk off. "I think I'll go and join them." She smiled at Sora when she pashed but completely ignored her brother.

"What's up with her?" Taichi joked lightly. Sora shook her head.

"I think you need to go and talk to her," the other said, handing Taichi his sister's cloak. "And now before she gets too far." He nodded and left the room, leaving Sora and the unconscious Yamato alone. He had a feeling that she wanted not only for him to talk to his sister, but to say some private things to the blonde the she wished him not to hear.

He caught the tail end of his sister's familiar plait disappearing around the far corner at the end of the corridor. He sped up a little so he was almost jogging and he rounded the corner to see her a little way down the corridor. He passed the many glass windows that let sunlight stream inside and sped to almost a running pace to catch up with her. When he did he called her name, and she ignored him.

He tried again. No response. He kept on trying and trying and he received strange glances from people passing by.

Eventually she answered.

"I'll talk to you when we're outside," she said coldly, still not looking at him. "I don't want to embarrass myself infront of everyone." He nodded and they both silently descended the steps.

When they were outside and in the deserted courtyard, Taichi started (or tried to start) a conversation.

"Hikari, please talk to me," he said. "It's not healthy for you to keep everything inside." She stopped and turned around to face him. One look at her face told him that his words had been a mistake.

"How dare you say something like that!" she screeched. "You've been through something at least ten times worse than my experience, and you didn't even have the audacity to tell me! How could you?"

"Hikari what are you-"

"Our parents, Tai," she yelled. "Myotismon made you watch as he killed them, and you kept it a secret. You told me they were dead. You never said anything about you watching. You think my nightmares are bad. I can't imagine what yours are like and yet you're not telling anyone! You're a hypocrite, Yagami Taichi, and that doesn't bode well with me." She grabbed her cloak out of his arms and turned. She took a few slow, well-paced steps forwards while she put it on and then kicked violently off the ground, shooting off like a rocket.

Taichi was seething inside. Not over what had been said (although it had hurt him) but over the fact that she had found out about something he had been hiding from her for two years. The longer he had hidden it from her, the harder it had been to tell her as he knew that she would blow up on him.

He watched the black dot in the sky that was her figure for a while until her was unable to focus on it. He then returned to the building and headed back to check on Yamato.

---

She didn't want to stay in Odaiba. It had too many painful memories, and now her brother probably hated her because of what she had said. She hadn't intended to say half the stuff she had, but instead she had blurted everything out, shooting her big mouth off.

A twig snapped behind her but it was quiet enough so she could get away with physically appearing to have heard anything. Inside, however, she heightened her hearing and tried to pinpoint where the sound had come from.

There was a rustling behind her and she whirled around. When her eyes caught those of the figure infront of her she paled and gasped loudly.

"You!" she exclaimed. "But…how? We got rid of you!" But that was all she could manage before a large, burly man grabbed both her arms and delivered a blow to her head large enough to knock her unconscious.

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H-4-T: Ok, this ending was random. I still don't even know who the bad guy is yet, this ending just happened. I think I'm onto something though. I won't know if you like it or not unless you review!


	4. Hikari's Missing!

H-4-T: Hello again! How are you all? Yes, I do care about you. You're good? Oh that's ok. Me? Oh, I'm fine thank you. ?

Well, actually, no. I'm not fine at all. I have a short story to tell you.

Hikari: I don't think they care...

H-4-T: Well I think they have a right to know that gorse bushes are dangerous and should be burned!

Daisuke: Ooh! Tell me! I want to know!

H-4-T: Well, anyway, it happened the other night. I was coming back from basketball practice and mum had to drop me off at the school so I could pick up my bike because I cycle to school and she has to take me straight from that hell-hole to the practice. Anyway I wanted to take my hair down and I couldn't be bothered stopping so I tried to tie it around my wrist using my teeth which I have done so many times before but I leant too far towards the road so I tried to counterbalance myself and ended up riding straight into a gorse buch. Because of many severe scratches on my leg and waist and arm I am dedicating this day to writing more chapters for Courageous Light! Yay!

Hikari: Have you rambles enough yet?

H-4-T: No. Not really. Oh and don't worry Jillie, it's going to be whatyou want it to be.

Disclaimer: You know it by now! Ok, you've only had two chapters to memorise it so I'll say it again. I don't own digimon. The prequel is by Fruitloop Trooper. LEARN THE WAYS OF THE DISCLAIMER BECAUSE I'M GETTING TOO TIRED TO TYPE IT!

Oh and I'm only using Ryo's name, not his character.

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Her alarm clock was different that morning. She had woken up confused at the sound of the phone going, which had confused her because her alarm was usually the radio.

"Hello?" she asked groggily.

"Sora…can I…uhm…talk to you?" It was Takeru, and he sounded extremely troubled. She sat up and ran a hand through her hair.

"Yeah, course," she answered, stifling a yawn.

"Well, it's about Matt," he said. Sora woke up a little more. "Obviously you know about the car incident he was involved in yesterday. Well…he's gone into a coma. The doctors think he…They think he might not survive it." Sora's eyes widened.

"Oh my gosh, no way," she whispered.

"Yeah," the other replied, although his voice sounded like it was cracking.

"I'm…I'm really sorry," she said quietly. "T.K…if there's anything I can do…"

"Thanks, Sora, I really appreciate it," he answered. "I'm sorry if I woke you or anything but I just…I had to talk to someone."

"Well I'm always here for you, ok?"

"Yeah, thanks Sora," he almost whispered. "I'll see you later, ok?"

"Yeah," she said. "And T.K?"

"Yeah?"

"It's good that you talk about these things," she said. The other let out a little laugh before the two said their goodbyes.

Sora stared at the white, cordless phone for a few seconds before putting it quite heavily onto the bedside stand and collapsing face-first into her pillow.

And then her phone rang.

Again.

She glared at the offending, noisy object before pushing her face into her mattress and placing her thick, pink pillow over her ears.

But she could still hear it.

Finally it got the better of her and she sent it a final glare before picking it up and answering. She had barely got a word out when Taichi's frantic voice came on the other end of the line.

"Hikari's gone!"

---

She woke up with a pounding headache. She was hungry as hell and prayed that, if she wasn't going to get any food, she could die. Her arms were bound behind her back by a rough, coarse rope. There was a gag in her mouth and a blindfold over her eyes. She could only hear what was around her, her other senses were incapacitated. She had been there for a year now, and she was used to these daily routines. She had been bound and gagged for a year now too and she only kept her voice alive by screaming and talking, although it was muffled against the dirty cloth in her mouth.

A door, most likely wooden and with rusted hinges, creaked open and closed again and the footsteps neared. Someone crouched behind her; she could feel the person's breath on her neck.

"You've got a new friend," the person, a male, whispered. She growled at him. "Be nice, Will, you wouldn't want to give her the wrong impression, would you?" Her eyes narrowed, but it was impossible to tell. "I would have put her in with someone else, but you're the only one on your own. I know how you Americans hate being alone…" She tried to say something, but it came out muffled.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" She tried to say it again, louder this time, but it was still unintelligible. The gag was removed and she gulped air in through her mouth.

"You'll never get away with this!" she yelled. "I'll kill you, you bastard! I'm gonna kill you!" He smirked at her before replacing the gag over her mouth.

"You're going to kill me," he repeated. "Good. I look forward to it. Bring her in!" There were more footsteps and someone was thrown down next to her. "I'll leave you to get acquainted." With that he left.

There was silence and darkness.

She had become acquainted with the two, and she was also close friends with apathy, angst and depression. A day didn't go by when she didn't wish that she could just kill herself to end it all. She was always alone. She always was and she always would be.

There was suddenly a soft glowing light that peeked through the small holes on her blindfold. It was a soothing white and she was almost fooled into thinking she had reached death at last; her dream come true.

But the light died and she was surrounded in darkness again.

The girl next to her was moving. She was to the left, slightly infront of her. She heard the girl move a lot, as if she was standing up, and then softened footsteps – like someone wearing socks on a coarse floor – walked behind her. She tensed herself and mentally thought of what she could do to defend herself.

Her mental list was scarily short.

"Don't worry," the girl said quietly, "I'm not going to hurt you. I promise. I'm going to untie you, ok?" Will nodded. She felt the bonds around her hands loosen and her gag was removed. Her blindfold followed so that the only things left tied were her legs.

At first she couldn't tell that the blindfold had been removed as the room was so dark. To begin with she saw the shades of light that were somehow in the room and, after a few seconds, she could see well enough to untie her legs.

"Are you ok?" the girl asked. Will nodded. "What's your name?"

"Will Vandom," she said.

"It's nice to meet you, Will," the girl said, moving to sit infront of her. In the dim moonlight she could make out the girl was about her height – quite short – with two long strands of hair that fell infront of her face and the rest of it was taken back into what she could guess was a low ponytail.

The other girl stuck out her hand.

"I'm Hikari Yagami," she stated. Will accepted the handshake.

"Sorry if this is rude or anything, but aren't you like Chinese or something?"

"Japanese," the other corrected, "but yeah. I'm fluent in a lot of languages, though." Will nodded.

The two spoke for a long time, getting to know each other, but then Hikari started glowing slightly, illuminating the room.

"Oh great, I'm a flipping nightlight," she muttered. The pair then heard footsteps and the glowing stopped.

Hikari glanced at the redhead next to her and sighed.

"I bet you think I'm a freak right now, don't you?" she said softly.

"Actually, no," she said. "You just untied me and I can move again. You basically just saved my life. I'm in no place to call you a freak." Hikari nodded. "Um…actually…there's one more favour that I would like to ask you. Um…could you help me to walk again?" Hikari smiled.

"Of course I will," she answered softly. "Do you want to start now or wait until tomorrow?"

"Well it won't really make a difference to me," she said. "I don't actually have a regular sleep pattern, I just sleep when I can and want. And it's not like we can do anything about the light situation." The brunette laughed slightly and rolled her eyes. She closed her lids and cupped her hands infront of her.

An orb of white light started to form, strings of white light surrounding it. She parted her hands and it slipped into the air. With a flick of her wrist it flew to the ceiling and, when she concentrated harder, the light intensified slightly, illuminating the room more. Will looked completely astounded.

"How…how did you do that?" she asked. Hikari looked over and noticed that she had blood-red hair kept back in a neat bun. She was pale (although that could have just been the pale light) and thin with old, dirtied clothes almost torn to rags, but she thought that they might have been a pink t-shirt and pale jeans.

"I…it's an ability I've only recently learned to control," she answered. "I'd rather not talk about it though." Will nodded.

"Ok, well, here's what I was just thinking of," the brunette continued, sitting next to Will who had shuffled to lean against the wall. "We're going to start with some muscle toning on your legs because you look like you haven't even eaten in years, never mind walking. When you feel comfortable we'll try and get you on your feet, ok?" Will nodded.

"You know what?" she asked. Hikari looked at her, confused. "I think this friendship is going to work out nicely."

---

Taichi was frantic.

No.

He was insanely worried.

Even that was an understatement.

The group were in an abandoned news station chosen for the fact that Izzy could hook up his computer and send out a tracking signal for a wider radius that if he was only using his computer.

The worrying thing was that they still had no reply from her digivice.

"Where could she be?" Taichi muttered.

"There are no clues," Koushirou replied, still looking at his laptop screen as his fingers rapidly danced across the keyboard. "There's been no ransom note, and we can't exactly go up to the police and say 'oh, hello officer, we'd like to the kidnapping of a dead person'."

"But Hikari was never assumed dead," Taichi replied. He then noticed that the group around him started looking quite nervous and they started avoiding his gaze.

"She was," Sora stated. "After you…died…Hikari disappeared. Your grandparents sent out a search party for her, they searched all over the world and, in the end, the police found a note that stated she was dead. After that they found a body. That's why we were so shocked when we saw both of you back. We thought you were both…dead."

"But…how could they have found a body?" Taichi asked, his face pale. "They couldn't have. It would be impossible."

"I don't think we've got the whole story," Miyako muttered. They looked over to where she was leaning over Koushirou's shoulder, reading the screen with a mixture of shock and interest.

"Listen to this," Koushirou started. "'Recently, at the Odaiba Morgue, the body suspected to be the deceased Digidestined Yagami Hikari disappeared. No traces of the body were found and there was no note. With no family alive and all friends assumed to have moved on, there are really no suspects as to who the criminals were'. How odd is that?"

"When was that article dated?" Taichi asked.

"August 20 2004," he answered. "That's odd. It's only a month after they found the body."

"But it's the exact day she said she remembered waking up in the Digital World," Taichi whispered to himself. "Did you ever find my body?"

"No," Sora said, a little bit of remorse in her voice. "The castle collapsed soon after our battle. We assumed that you were still in there and we wanted to get you out, but the government wouldn't give us the funding or the people to do it." He inclined his head to show that he understood.

"Let's forget about that," he then said, suddenly, "and get down to getting Hikari back. Who knows what's going on with her."

---

"So what did you do to him?" Will asked.

"Who?"

"_Him_," Will stated. "You must have done something to wind up here."

"Does killing him count?" Hikari asked, more seriously than Will realised. The redhead laughed.

"Seriously."

"I'd rather not talk about it," the brunette stated, lying on her back. "It's…it's not something I like to revisit." She winced as a flashback hit her, but she pushed it to the back of her mind and let out a tense breath.

"I understand," Will stated. The shorter rolled onto her front to stare at her cellmate.

"So what did you do?"

"I turned him in for murdering someone," she stated. "It was about two years ago…"

---

She was walking down the road, humming a quiet tune to herself, when a shot went off. Then another and another. Soon she had counted a total of five gunshots and, by now, she was at the end of the alleyway where the killing was happening.

A short, thin brunette lay on the ground looking dead as the man stood, the gun pointed at her chest.

Then, as the man turned, Will gasped loudly and took a couple of fearful steps backwards.

Standing tall with Asian features and long, shaggy black hair was Ryo, his dark eyes menacing. He glanced up at Will and aimed the gun at her now. She closed her eyes in anticipation of the shot.

The gun was fired, but she never felt anything. Looking up she saw that the brunette – who should have been dead – had tackled Ryo to the side and the gun was skidding along the floor towards Will's feet. She looked at it for a few seconds before glancing up at the two at the other end of the alley.

Ryo was glancing at the brunette with a pale face and he was shaking with fear. Without hesitating or stopping to pick up his gun, he ran from the alleyway, leaving the two teens alone, one dying and one too scared and shocked to move.

After a few seconds Will pulled herself together and quickly whipped out her cell-phone to dial 911. She left the alleyway quickly to scout for which way Ryo had gone, but she couldn't see him anywhere.

By the time she had finished the phone call to the emergency services she walked back into the alleyway only to find the girl gone. At first she thought it was only the face that it seemed to have gotten darker and she might not have been able to see her, so she walked forwards. But, in the place of the young brunette, six bullets lay innocently, although covered in blood and a little dirt.

---

"…I couldn't believe she was alive enough to stop him killing me," Will stated, "I wonder if she's still alive…" Hikari nodded sympathetically.

"That must have been really mentally disturbing for you," she stated, still lying on her front on the cold, stone floor. Will nodded.

"I turned him in shortly after when I had the courage to explain what I had seen to the police who arrived. At first they didn't believe me," she explained, "but I soon convinced them. After he escaped prison he tracked me down and brought me here. There are a lot of other women here too for similar reasons."

"Is it just women?" Will nodded.

"I've never seen any men," she stated. "Except the members of his gang, the vile, hideous lot. Not everyone here is in from Ryo; there's Kurt, James, Ian, Jamie and Matt. They all brought the girls they wanted revenge on here too. It's sick really. Be thankful you've only had Ryo. Ian and Jamie…rape people here. Ryo's never let them do it to me, so I think you'll be safe." Hikari nodded, Will's words shocking her to the core. Who could think that such a vile thing could be going on right under everyone's noses?

Her powers, which had been dormant through the explanation, suddenly flared up and the room silenced. Straining her heightened hearing she heard footsteps approaching and she quickly quelled her powers and the light illuminating the room disappeared.

The heavy metal door opened and six muscled figures stood in the doorways. The one in the front walked forwards and approached Hikari. He grabbed the brunette's chin in his hand and stared her in the eyes, daring her to defy him. But she, not wanting to show a weakness, refused to look away.

"Well, well, well," he stated, "you try to kill me so I guess escaping a few bounds wouldn't be hard for you, would it?"

"What do you want, Ryo?" she hissed. He moved his lips to her neck and planted a hard kiss there before whispering in her ear.

"I want to finish what I started all those year," he stated, and Hikari felt suddenly weak. He had always had a way to entrance her as a young teenager, and he had not lost that ability. She was also out of practice at resisting his hypnotic charms, so she could do nothing. It was almost as if she went unconscious.

He noticed the sudden lack of resistance and smirked at her.

"You will be mine," he whispered before picking her up and carrying her out of the room. He had to admit that she wasn't stupid. She was staying still in his grasp and giving no opposition.

'This will be easier than I expected,' he thought to himself with a sadistic grin upon his features. He dimly heard Will calling out for the girl in his arms but he soon heard a dull thud and then silence, and he assumed that one of his boys must have knocked her out. The door clanged shut and it was locked before there were hurried footsteps to catch up to him.

"What are you going to do to her, Ryo?" Kurt, who was tall and lanky with mousey-blonde hair, asked.

"Oh she and I had an acquaintance just after the Myotismon incident," he stated, "and she lead me to believe she wanted me like I wanted her. Of course I only wanted one thing and, when she realised I was going to get it, she damaged a vital organ of mine before running away. Then her friends heard about it and came for round two. Now I want to finish what I started."

"Just you?" Ian asked, his blue eyes dancing with merriment and icy hope.

"Well you can al have a go if you want," he stated, "but I call dibs, plus ten quid that says she's still a virgin." The others laughed with him as they entered a large room. Hikari, who had slipped unconscious during the short walk (most likely due to a lack of food recently as she had not been eating), was tied to the bed after being removed of her clothes. The men then stepped back to look at their work.

"Now what?" Jamie asked.

"We wait," Ryo replied.

---

'Show me, Hikari, show me where you are,' Taichi mentally begged, his eyes closed as he sat in the darkened room with his fingers on his temples. 'Come on, sis, you can do it.'

"Help…"

The request was faint but he could make it out and he knew the voice instantly. Glancing over her saw a beaten and tired Hikari looking back at him. His room had been replaced by complete darkness and a nothingness hung around them like a quilt, but he didn't care. They were talking via what they called the 'Thoughtscape', a blank landscape (hence the name) where they could mentally communicate as if they were talking in person.

"Hikari!" he exclaimed, running over to her. She smiled weakly. "What happened? Where are you?"

"Tai, Ryo's back," she stated softly. "There are some things that I never told you that I should have, and I'm sorry for blowing up at you at the hospital. But Ryo's got me and I think he's going to…I think…" She let out a deep sigh. "Tai he's going to rape me."

Taichi snapped. No one did that to his family – or anyone he knew – and got away with it.

"Hikari, keep your mind open," he instructed. "I'll try and find you. I promise."

"I don't think you'll get here in time," she replied. "I think I'm in America, or somewhere in the UK. If you did manage to get here, you'd be far too late."

"I'll find you," he repeated. She smiled and was about to say something when her image started flickering like a bad TV signal.

"I'm waking up."

"Hikari, no!"

"I can't help it," she apologised, "he's bringing me round."

"You have to fight him."

"You think?" she asked, sarcasm in her voice. He wanted to reply, but she was already gone. And, with no one to connect to and his energies leaving him, he was thrown back into his physical body in the room he now shared with Mimi again.

He looked up to find his wife staring at him, leaning against the wall with her arms across her chest and her hazel eyes fixed on him.

"Explain."

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H-4-T: Well, slightly shorter than usual, but I hope it was good. I'm sorry if anyone is offended by the way I've used Ryo's name, but I just liked the name for the bad guy so it's nothing again the character.

Oh and the beginning of the next chapter may be a little more adult, involving – you guessed it – rape. I've limited the details though so I should be able to keep it a teen.

Well, R+R please!


	5. The Great Escape

H-4-T: Ok to keep this from being an M I'm cutting out most of the details. The first bit might be a bit detailed, but I'm hoping it's not too much.

Yeah, and it's kinda short too…

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The scent under her nose was disgusting and she tried to hold her breath to avoid having to breathe it in. Her eyes flickered opened to find an unrecognised face staring at her with brown eyes.

"Ryo! She's awake!" he yelled.

"Finally," came the reply. Ryo then entered the room wearing nothing but his boxers. Craning her neck she noticed that the other men in the room were similarly dressed. It took a few seconds but she soon realised that she was feeling quite cold and she looked down to see that she too was only dressed in her undergarments while tied to the bedposts.

"I thought you'd never come round," Ryo stated as she crawled on top of her and straddled her hips. She felt sick to the bone as she felt his erection pressing into her. "Stubborn in every aspect, ne?" He kissed her on the lips and, as he slid his tongue in her mouth, she clamped her teeth shut. He recoiled in agony with a short cry, but soon glared at her. He backhanded her across the face before moving next to her ear.

"Do that again," he stated, "and I won't be gentle." She really couldn't care, but she soon remembered that Will was downstairs. Apparently, so did Ryo. "And, yes, your little friend will be hurt if you object." She closed her eyes to keep back the tears.

He kissed her again and this time she did not resist, but she did not kiss him back. No matter how hard she tried, the tears slipped down her porcelain cheeks as the realisation came to her.

However a thought came to her and it gave her a glimmer of hope.

She was being raped, and she could do nothing to stop them.

But she could get really angry later.

---

Will was waiting silently in her cell. It felt like days had passed since Hikari had been there, and she was cold and lonely.

Bored out of her skull she decided to hum a tuneless song as she shuffled over to the wall. It was slow and the coarse ground was painful and she momentarily wondered what it would be like to be able to walk again. Still completely bored and now leaning against the wall she brought her legs underneath her. Placing both hands on the wall she slowly straightened her legs. She was amazed to find that they were still strong enough to handle her weight (which wasn't much as she hadn't been fed a lot in a while). She took a few unsteady steps forwards before she collapsed.

'If at first you don't succeed…' she thought. She shuffled her way back to the wall and stood up again. This time she made it almost ten steps before falling.

Confident that she was getting better, she tried to stand without assistance. Thankfully it worked and she stood confidently although her knees still shook a little. She walked forwards, a little more confident, and finally touched the other wall. She leant against it and panted heavily. Walking was taking more out of her as she hadn't done it in at least a year.

Footsteps approached along with talking. The door to her cell started to open and she quickly slid down the wall as light poured in. Hikari, her clothes messed up on her thin figure, was thrown into the cell. She quickly scrambled to her feet and tried to charge at the figures outside, but she was only met with a metal door.

"Let me out!" she yelled, pounding the door. "Let me out of here, Ryo! Ryo! Let me out! You're not gonna live for this!" Her pounding slowed and she let out a heavy sigh as she gave the door one lest, feeble punch and rested her head against it, the cooling metal helping to soothe her headache.

Will slowly stood and walked over to the other. She placed her hands on Hikari's shoulders and started to gently rub them.

"Hikari," she whispered. "Hikari, what did he do?" She didn't reply for a minute, but Will was used to silence so it didn't bug her.

"He did it," she finally replied quietly. "He…he…" Will noticed that a look of confusion had appeared on her face. The brunette whipped around and created a ball of light which floated to the ceiling to illuminate the room. "You're standing! You can walk! This is great! This is amazing!" She hugged the redhead. "I didn't even do anything! You did it all on your own!" With a broad smile upon her (as Will noticed) tear-stained features she turned and walked away to sit down.

"Hikari…are you ok?"

"I'm fine!" she stated, the grin still plastered on her face. "But…you can walk! That's…that's just so…I mean it's…I don't really know what it is." Will laughed a little and dropped to the ground before her legs gave out on her. She looked over and noticed that Hikari's eyelids were drooping.

"Get some sleep," she ordered as the brunette yawned, "you need it. We'll discuss everything when you wake up." Hikari nodded and fell asleep quickly. Will smiled at the innocence displayed on her cellmates face before standing up and practicing walking and getting used to all the stuff she used to do.

---

"Where on Earth did you find one like that?" Kurt asked. Ryo smirked and looked at his gang.

"We all have our secrets," he replied, "this is one of my many. If I decide to tell you, it won't be any time today."

"Well what did she do to you?" James asked.

"Tried to kill me." The guys laughed.

"All women do that, Ryo," Matt stated, shaking his head slightly so his dark-brown bangs fell infront of his eyes. "What did she seriously do?"

"I'm serious," the other replied, "she tried to kill me, so I returned the favour. She then stopped me killing another girl – Will – and now this is payback." The others nodded, although still not getting the full picture, and went back to the meal infront of them.

---

He had not slept that night. To be honest he had not slept since she had been gone, but that night was special. He had made contact with her, and the news she had told him was disturbing.

Slowly Taichi got out of bed and he walked into the kitchen. The tiles were cold and soothing on his feet as he filled up a glass with cold water. He rested against the surface as he quickly gulped the liquid down. After a few seconds he replaced the glass in the sink and walked to the front room.

'_I hope you're ok_,' he thought, '_wherever you are_.'

---

It didn't take long before she was able to run on the spot again and she soon running the length of the cell to kick start her muscles. As she sat down for a small test she heard movement to her left. Glancing over she noticed, by the dim light above them, that Hikari was stirring from her slumber.

The young brunette, who had not been asleep for that long, looked up into the redhead's chocolate eyes.

"It wasn't a dream, was it?" she asked, although it was more of a statement. Will, unwillingly, shook her head.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. She moved to hug the other, but Hikari brushed her off.

"Leave the sympathy," she stated, "and help me get everyone out of here." Will, slightly confused, nodded.

She watched as Hikari focused and create a small, white ball of light inbetween her hands. Closing her eyes and focusing, the brunette was able to make it take the form of a key. She slipped it into the lock in the door and twisted it, a hopeful look in her eyes.

Sure enough the door opened with a click then a creak and Will shielded her eyes slightly as the harsh light from outside flooded into their dark cell. The light above them disappeared with a slight hiss and the two girls slipped silently out of the cell.

Hikari stood in the hallway and closed her eyes. She started to glow a little and stayed that way for at least a minute before she opened her eyes again, the aura still around her but quite faint.

"Ok, I can't unlock every door, so let's do this the old fashioned way," Will heard her mutter. Again she closed her eyes and looked to be concentrating hard. After a couple of minutes her eyes opened and a childish spark was in there.

She whirled around and punched a fire alarm. The glass stung her fingers and small cuts appeared, but she knew it was a simple way to do what she planned to.

As she hoped all the doors unlocked and then hissed open a little bit. She set Will about going and untying the women in the cells on one side while she did the other. It wasn't long before they were finished as untied women also helped. As Hikari looked back, she saw the women emerging from the cells, each a different race yet all bound together by the same looks of confusion, bewilderment and anorexia in the corridor lights. Hikari, however, didn't ponder too long on these facts as she sprinted off down the corridor and through a door at the edge. A few seconds later her head popped back around again.

"Well come on," she said and took off again. The other women did not need much more encouraging and took off after her. Some, who had lost feeling in their legs, picked up others and ran after the young brunette.

The fire alarm was loud and shrill and it masked their footsteps perfectly. Due to the 'emergency' situation, the security codes had been overridden to allow for a quick escape. It was obvious to everyone now that it had once been a prison. They ran at a top sprint through the building, but it was soon apparent that recent events had taken away most people's stamina. Hikari was, however, amazed at the determination apparent and, when Will stumbled and fell, she carried the redhead on her back.

Still leading the women through the maze of corridors they soon met sunlight. The cool breeze was somewhat harsh on their skin and many shivered with the sudden cold. They wanted to stop and their lungs were burning, but the voices of their captors behind them were enough to spur them on to keep running.

The kept going, through countryside until they came to a city, or it might have been a large town. Either way, Hikari was pleased and she and the group seemed to speed up a little at the sight of civilisation.

They attracted many strange glances as they entered the city, but some were – thankfully – kind enough to call ambulances for them all. They all collapsed near enough together, all panting and trying not to let unconsciousness take them. Hikari leant against a wall, her hands on her knees and her head down. She was dimly aware of talking and crying around her, vaguely conscious of the fact that it was dusk, and that the streetlights around her were coming on. She didn't respond when a blanket was placed around her shoulders nor when someone started talking to her. She was so unaware of what was happening that she didn't even realise when she had stopped breathing.

She only realised when everything went black.

---

His eyes shot open, fear evident in them. He had lost her. She was dead.

He wouldn't believe it.

Getting up from his meditating mat he walked to his front room and quickly opened a communication channel. The face of a fearful Taichi met him.

"Is it just me?" he asked. Taichi shook his head.

"It's not, I can't find her either," he replied, "I was just about to call and hope that you knew anything."

"I'm afraid I don't, her mind has just slipped away from the Thoughtscape," the elderly man replied. "I'm sorry, Taichi, but the signs are showing that she's dead." There was a moment of silence when neither spoke. Tears rolled down the younger boy's cheeks and he closed his eyes to try and keep them back.

"I…I need to be alone for a while," he whispered painfully.

"Taichi please, stay with someone," Gennai pleaded, but the younger had already closed the communication channel. Gennai sighed heavily and slowly collapsed onto the floor.

"I'm sorry, Hikari," he whispered, "I have failed you."

---

They were shattered when they heard the news. The whole group were just in complete pain. Losing a loved one once is hard enough, but to lose them a second time was a torture that not many experience. Now with one Digidestined dead and another in a coma, there were only ten left to pull the pieces together in Odaiba, and they all had a feeling that something bad was going to happen.

Something really bad.

And it was going to happen soon…

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H-4-T: I'M SORRY THIS IS SO SHORT! Really, I am, but I can't write too much more for the rest of the Digidestined at the moment because of the way I'm writing the next chapter. To make up for it, here's a preview:

Darkness. All she could see was darkness. There was a nothingness that surrounded her. A cold, dark nothingness that she could not get rid of. She hated the dark, it had always taunted her as a child and now it seemed as though it had permanently consumed her. All around, closing in, she couldn't breathe, the air was too thick and he lungs to weak. A faint beeping noise in the back of her mind, speeding up, getting faster and faster. Her heart was pounding in her chest, an ache drilling in her mind and all the while all she could do was lie there in the darkness of her mind.

H-4-T: Looking forward to it? I know I'm looking forwards to writing it. It's going to be very disjointed and somewhat confusing for all of us, but I hope I can pull it off.

Sayonara!


	6. Dead or Alive

H-4-T: Well, back for another chapter, eh? Mustn't have had enough of my terrible writing skills. That's a shame.

Well I don't own the prequel to this story, nor do I own Digimon or it's related characters. I would, however, like to take some credit for the storyline, as I did think it up and I have revised the meaning of comas and such to fit it in truthfully with the storyline.

Fic Time!

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Darkness. All she could see was darkness. There was a nothingness that surrounded her. A cold, dark nothingness that she could not get rid of. She hated the dark, it had always taunted her as a child and now it seemed as though it had permanently consumed her. All around, closing in, she couldn't breathe, the air was too thick and he lungs to weak. A faint beeping noise in the back of her mind, speeding up, getting faster and faster. Her heart was pounding in her chest, an ache drilling in her mind and all the while all she could do was lie there in the darkness of her mind.

"How is she?"

Voices. Voices in her head, always there, always talking, always asking if she was ok.

"I'm here!" she yelled, her voice echoing around her. "Help me! Please!"

"Her brain activity is very high."

"Help me! Please help me!"

"We should keep her going then."

"Please, I'm here, help me!" She was begging now, pleading with the voices to somehow help her. But, as usual, they stopped and went away, leaving her alone in the darkness. She curled up into a little ball and rested her chin on her knees, tears rolling down her face.

---

"Un…deux…trois…quatre…cinq…six…sept…huit…neuf…dix…" she counted, vaguely pulling at memories in her mind. Foreign languages had never been her strong point, and now she trying to remember them. She had been counting to ten for a long time now, all in different languages. Spanish, English, her native Japanese, German, Russian and now French. It wasn't much fun – it wasn't any fun – but it kept her occupied in the darkness.

She shivered and wrapped her arms around her for warmth, but it didn't help. Her fingers were going numb and turning slightly blue and her breath billowed out before her in pale clouds. The temperature in the darkness was never constant and could go from boiling hot to freezing cold in a matter of seconds. She had become quite used to it recently, as it had been happening more often, but she was not immune to the anomalies in temperature. She brought her knees up close to her chest and started counting again, refusing to close her eyes and sleep as she might well die from cold.

"Her temperature's dropped again." The voices were back again. Always they came back, talking about her, but not to her, always about her. Always teasing her, making sure she could hear them but they could never hear her.

They could never hear her.

They would never hear her cries for help, or those of pain. They would never know of the tears she shed in the darkness out of fear or loneliness, nor would they hear the heart-wrenching sobs that accompanied them.

She was truly alone.

---

She didn't know how long she had been in the darkness now. She couldn't tell if it was Monday or Wednesday; time didn't seem to exist in her little world where she was alone.

So alone.

She couldn't tell if it had really been hours, weeks, or just seconds. She had tried counting but had soon gotten bored. She had then resorted to singing. Starting at one thousand bottles of beer she soon found that – all too soon – she had gone through them all. Now not only was she bored, but her mind was also telling her that she was at least slightly drunk. She had a headache and her body was going numb. She wasn't able to get up and walk around in the darkness, all she could do for movement was sit or lie down. Occasionally she would curl up into a tight ball too, as though wishing to keep the darkness out and replace it with the hopeful light she felt inside. Memories of a faint power within tugged at her mind, but she couldn't place them and it was slowly driving her to insanity.

She tried to stand; tried to move her arms and legs enough to stop…what was the term…muscle wastage, but nothing worked. Her will power was weakening by the day.

---

She wasn't in darkness any more. There was a faint light surrounding her as she looked around. It was a strange feeling that was taking over her body; a feeling of weightlessness but it felt somewhat familiar.

Streets and buildings were flying underneath her. Or was she flying? Either way she passed them with extraordinary speed, although she didn't feel any air on her face.

Japan, she recognised.

She flew over a block of flats then a large mall. Cars zoomed on the roads, all unaware of her, and she flew over them with little regard to them. Finally she felt as though she had reached her destination. She was at a hospital, the red cross shining brightly above the doors. She landed on the ground and walked inside, not even noticing when she passed right through the door. She walked through familiar corridors, not really paying much attention as to where she was going but letting her feet guide her instead, until she came to a room.

The first person she had seen since she had first started the experience lay on a bed, his eyes closed and his blonde, shaggy hair falling around him. She knew him, yet she didn't know him. It was confusing even to her, but she walked through the doors (literally) and walked over to the bed. Reaching out a finger to his temple the world around her suddenly exploded.

Around her she was again in darkness. Alone again in the darkness. She glanced around and sighed. Yup, she was definitely alone.

Had it all been a dream or was something else going on?

It was so confusing.

---

"One thousand two hundred and seventy six bottles of beer on the wall, one thousand two hundred and seventy bottles of beer…"

She had started from five thousand this time, and it was keeping her occupied enough to take her mind away from the black void around her. It wasn't very exciting nor was it very stimulating, but it kept her occupied.

She had been 'flying' twice more – three times in total – but it always disappeared as soon as she touched the young man on the hospital bed. Every time she tried to will the pattern to change. She told her mind to stop her reaching out her hand, but the useless lump never listened.

She closed her eyes and raised her hands behind her head, deciding to catch some sleep.

As soon as she felt herself drifting off, the voices returned.

"Are you ok?"

She sat up and looked around wildly. The first thing her mind registered was that she was no longer in the darkness any more. Luscious green grass and perfect trees surrounded her while birds sang and the sun shone above.

"Excuse me?"

She then realised that the voice she heard wasn't one of her voices, as she had named them. She jumped to her feet and span around to see the boy from her hospital vision looking back at her, a look of shock on his face.

"Hikari?"

Was that her name? Was she Hikari? Was that a first name, a last name or was it some form of nickname? She remembered it well and it struck a strong chord in her heart, but she couldn't place it.

"Am I?" she asked unsurely. "I can't remember."

"You are," he replied. "I can promise you, you are Hikari."

"Who are you?" she questioned.

"I'm Yamato," he answered. "You used to always call me Matt."

"Matt?"

"Do you remember?" She shook her head. "That's ok, we can work on that." She nodded.

"So…are we dead?" He let out a little chuckle.

"No, we're not," he replied. "I mean, I may look like God but…"

"So full of yourself…" she muttered, almost habitually. She then clamped a hand over her mouth and a look appeared on her face as if she had said something shameful. "I'm so sorry, it just came out!"

"No…that's good," he replied. "You're saying things you used to say, and that's good. I'm not offended, so don't be sorry." She looked up into his blue eyes and smiled at him slightly. A slight breeze blew past them and her brown hair blew out beside her and she nodded; a determined look in her eyes.

---

She had been back to visit him many times since that first meeting, and he had helped her regain a lot of her missing memories. She hated not remembering things; it made her feel weak. She hated feeling weak.

Neither of them knew how long they were there for a time or how long they had been in their 'places' in total. She, however, was always the one to visit him. He could never visit her. She didn't want him to. He had a vast paradise with luscious foliage and other such luxurious things, while all she had was the darkness.

Looming, black and endless.

Darkness.

It surrounded her.

Trapping her.

And she had no way out.

---

"One thousand bottles of beer on the wall, one thousand bottles of beer…"

She couldn't stand in her hell, yet she could in his heaven. Was she condemned to waste away here? Was he trying to save her? She had never been a religious person, that much she knew, but was it too late to change?

Too many questions in her head. Too many thoughts buzzing around like flies. She wanted to squash them all. Bring out the fly spray and doom them all. They were doomed for death anyway, why wait? The only thing stopping her from dying was the fact that she couldn't move to get anything to end it all with (not that she could see anything in her black surroundings anyway).

She had tried to visit Matt, but she had been unable to slip into his little slice of heaven. In fact she had barely made contact with him at all. Maybe the redemption had finally set in and she had lost her angel. Perhaps she had now been left to rot and decay in this dark world.

"She's still stable, but is there hope?"

"Her brain activity is completely normal. I would say she was just asleep."

The voices again, the same ones that had been with her since the beginning of her time in this world. She didn't bother trying to call for them, she knew they wouldn't hear or answer her. They never had.

And they never would.

The voices started to fade away; she only caught snatches of the conversation.

"Two years..."

"…And I'm afraid that we might have to…" They faded away completely and she was alone again. What was so significant about two years? Could that be how much longer she had to wait until she would receive the answer of hell or heaven? That was going to be a long wait.

Or was that the time she had already spent here? Maybe she had everything wrong. Maybe there was something wrong with her and she was in some sort of cell or something, strapped down to a bed for her own good so she didn't harm herself by accident (or could it be purposeful? Was she insane?). She was no longer sure of anything. She wasn't even sure of who she was.

Hikari.

Yes, that's what Matt had told her.

She was Hikari. Yagami Hikari. She had a brother called Taichi and a best friend named Sora Tak…Tak…Takenouchi. She had been stranded in the desert with Matt and Sora for nine years at one time. Was it nine years? Was that how long he said? Did he even tell her time period?

In fact, was he even real?

The thought sent chills down her spine and she tried to push it away – desperately trying to hold on to the idea of an angel – but it came back, unbidden. It would not go away and it remained in her mind, at the forefront of her thoughts, making sure she thought about nothing but the fact that her angel may have just been a fantasy that she had created to ease her troubled mind.

But, if her angel wasn't real, did that mean that she wasn't Hikari?

There was a pain in her chest and her breathing became short and ragged. She clutched the front of her shirt in her fist and leant over her legs, her face contorted in pain as the unforgiving seizures continued.

A noise was coming slower and beeping was increasing. The pain was becoming unbearable. Oh how she wished it would end.

"She's going into cardiac arrest!" a voice, so distant now, yelled. What was cardiac arrest? Was it some foreign term? She had heard it before, but it's definition eluded her and the pain in her chest continued.

Then everything was gone.

Just like that.

Gone…

Lost…

"Clear!"

With a sharp jolt she was thrown back to consciousness and was dimply aware that the pain had subsided a little. She was no longer in the darkness. Worried faces looked above her, gazing down upon her with fearful eyes. White behind them, all white, a sheer difference to the darkness she had experienced for only God knew how long. Was it two years like the voices had said? Were these faces above hers the owners of the voices?

A hospital.

Was she still alive? Was there hope for her yet? There was the beeping again near her head – a heart monitor, she realised. She tried to look at it but her muscles would not respond. She could only gaze at the faces above her before she slipped back into the colourless world of nothingness.

---

Hikari.

Yagami Hikari.

That's who I am: Yagami Hikari.

She had been telling herself the same thing for a long time now. Just lying there in the darkness, telling herself over and over again who she was.

Hikari.

Yagami Hikari.

That's who I am: Yagami Hikari.

She had long since quelled the thought about her angel being a figment of her imagination and she now had soothed her questions about who she really was. Even f she wasn't Hikari, she had told herself, she could still believe that she was until she found her true identity. Couldn't she?

Until then she could – no, would – just lie there. There was nothing else to do. How she wished that she could just talk to Matt again; talk to anybody.

How old was she? She didn't know. Was she paralysed? The thought, so random at the time, hadn't even crossed her mind until now. Did she have a boyfriend? Again an unanswered question. Was anyone worrying about her? She definitely hoped so.

Or did she? She didn't know how long she had been away from her home (if she had one). Did she really hope that someone was being put through the torture of hoping that she was alive? Was she even alive? Was there any hope left?

Hope.

Why did that word trigger memories?

A blonde boy. A boy with lots of courage.

Courage.

A boy with wild, bushy hair and a wide toothy grin. Friendship radiated off him.

Friendship.

Her angel, Matt, appeared in her mind, looking happier than she had ever seen him.

All those words, did they mean something special to her? Were they something exceptional? So extraordinary that they were possibly taken out of a dictionary and put onto pedestals?

No, people didn't do that to words. People did that to gods, not words.

Definitely not words.

Hikari.

Yagami Hikari.

That's who I am: Yagami Hikari.

---

Hope, courage, friendship.

Hope, courage, friendship.

Hope, courage, friendship.

Why were those words special?

She had pondered the question for ages now; it felt like at least a year. Imagine that: a year of sitting and pondering about three words. It was like an old saying she had heard: There must be more to life than sitting wondering if there is more to life. It was quite a clever little saying that she remembered, if she thought about it. Every philosopher always had a theory on whether there was more to life. She couldn't remember any off the top of her head, but she was sure that she would remember them in time. And, from the looks of things, she had a lot of that ahead of her.

She was tired; oh so tired. She just wanted to sleep, but something stopped her. Some nagging force in the back of her mind that told her that sleeping was a bad idea, and that a bad result would come out of it. Was that nagging force true? Or was it working with some force – the voices, perhaps – and trying to tire her out until she was too exhausted to put up a fight. What then? Would it be death, or something worse? Or could it be a fate worse than a fate worse than death?

And so she sang.

Again.

"I've got a little baby bumblebee…"

---

The bumblebee song had made her felt quite sick (some of the lyrics were not for those of weak stomachs) and she felt the need to hurl, but she couldn't. She felt sick to her stomach, and yet her body – her own body – was unwilling to help her out. Had she done something truly terrible to deserve this terrible treatment? Who could she ask?

The voices. Maybe the voices would hear her for once.

But, she thought, they haven't been here in such a long time. Had they forgotten her? Had she been left to die on her own? Was she being punished for being to stubborn?

Or was it the opposite? Had she been unconscious all this time? Maybe they had lost interest in her.

No, she decided. No one could b unconscious for this long, she was sure of it. And she was almost certain that coma victims would have been left for death in her position.

There was a loud sound – like an explosion. How did she know what an explosion sounded like? She had no clue. She felt like she was shaking all over; as if the very ground beneath her was moving and jerking her, shaking her around to see what came out.

But there was no ground under her. In the black nothingness there was nothing to lie on. She felt the surface against her back, but she somehow knew that it didn't belong in the world she was in. That she was definitely sure of.

Another explosion and another rumble of movement.

There was a sharp pain in her leg and she screamed out in agony. Her leg fell numb and useless (not that she could have used it before anyway), all senses gone.

The explosions continued for a long time before stopping, and during that time she heard screaming and panic.

What was happening? Was there some form of war going on or was she imagining this? No, she couldn't have been imagining it, it was too real. What was real anymore? Were the explosions real? Was her angel real? Was she real?

"Hello?"

A voice. Not one she recognised, but a new voice. There was movement, something being lifted and the little senses left in her leg told her that a pressure point had been removed.

"Rika! Rika over here! I've got another one!"

It was a little girl's voice, she could be no older than about ten Hikari guessed.

There was more movement.

"Is she even alive?"

"She's unconscious."

Was she really unconscious?

"You know we can't take her, Alice," the second voice (Rika, was it?) replied. "We don't have the medical attention to help her."

"But lookie!" Alice exclaimed. There were small scuffling sounds and Hikari was very confused. All she could see was darkness. "A D-3."

"But then that means…Let's get her out of here." She felt herself being moved, as though she were being carried in a strange way. She couldn't figure it out. Still the black void around her remained as intense as ever.

A butterfly.

It was a cheerful, random thought that suddenly popped into her head, but it made her smile a little. Inside her head she saw a golden butterfly on a green leaf. She could see the image perfectly, including the little dew drops and the green veins. The butterfly twitched it's wings, but didn't fly away.

A pretty butterfly, Hikari thought. So content, so carefree, so small.

Could she ever be like that?

---

There had been various shifts where different people watched her. She counted the shifts and she was up to two hundred and five. She now knew the voices of Alice, Rika, Jeri and Henri. She could imagine them to be sweet little children who cared for her, but she had also heard snippets of what they were saying.

There was a war, she knew that much. She could never catch the name of the enemy or who was winning; she had to just put up with the fact that there was a war going on.

She wanted to be a part of it, but she couldn't. Not in the state she was in (whatever that was). She was getting so stressed about not being able to help that it was driving her to insanity.

Was she already insane?

There was movement around her. A change of watch, she decided.

"See you in the morning, Jeri," a young girl with a thick accent stated simply. Jeri thanked the girl and walked away.

There was more movement and Hikari was vaguely aware of something tickling her forehead.

"You won't know me," the voice stated, "but I'm Catherine. I'm from France. I'll bet you want to know what's going on right now, don't you? What am I saying? You probably can't even hear me."

"I can hear you!" Hikari yelled, but she knew it was futile.

"I'm sorry if you think I'm blabbering, but I need someone who I can just talk to and not have them judge me. I can't talk to myself because that's just mental, and everyone else is just too busy. I hope you don't mind, but I just need to explain myself."

Hikari was at a loss. Was there some sort of base going on here? Was this a war base? She knew a war was going on, but she didn't know which side she was on. Best to just listen and piece together the information. It wasn't like she could do much else, could she?

"This war's been on for four years now," Catherine started, and Hikari found that she could understand the other's French accent clearly. "It's been so confusing; many of us can't even remember what started it. We know it started in Japan and spread out, but no one knows the real start.

'Almost everyone I know has been killed. My grandfather, my parents and even my little brother. I just feel so…alone. Rika was kind enough to take me in and I do my part here and there, but I still feel so left out. It's stupid, I know, but I'm always feeling that I could do more for the base, y'know?" There was a pause. "I thought so. You probably can't even hear what I'm saying. I might as well be talking to myself." With that she stopped talking. There were no more words telling her what was going on, no more glimmer of hope of some sort of explanation. She was consumed in the darkness again, left to ponder the thoughts of Catherine.

---

Memories, both good and bad, were returning to her as time passed. She could now clearly recall ten of her other friends, the Digidestined, and the evens involving Myotismon. She could remember every detail of being in the desert and every scent of her mom's cooking way back from when she was only eight. She could remember the hospital clearly, and knew she had been sick a lot of times in her younger years. Everything was crystal clear until it came to returning to the real world with her brother. From there on she could only guess from the blurry pictures.

What was the significance of her memories returning? Was she finally getting her answer of where she was going? Was this a sign to tell her that she was almost at the end of a long, dark tunnel?

Catherine had been in lots of times since their first 'talk', and Hikari was always ready with suggestions on how to help her and how she could help herself, but Catherine was like all the other voices (except for the fact that she talked _to_ Hikari) and would never hear her. So she just listened, aware of how much Catherine was saying even if the other was not.

But that day had been different. She had been slightly less aware of what Catherine was saying and more aware of the state she was in. Memory fully regained she was familiar with her past but had no idea (besides what she had pieced together) of what was going on in the present.

She had a determined resolve to fix that.

When Catherine left to get some water to cool her down (she had a fever at the moment) she had felt a tingling sensation all over her body. The dark world around her faded away to a less-darker existence, and she had found that she was lying on a cold stone floor with her eyes closed. She tried to open them but soon snapped them shut again as the world around her was too bright to handle.

It took a while for her to be able to register what was around her, but she was in some sort of makeshift bunker, lying on a small cot, the sheets abandoned next to her. She tried to sit up, but her arms were too weak to support her. She was able to move them as though she would sit, but she could get no farther than a few inches away from the thin mattress before her arms shook with the strain and she collapsed again.

Was she still alive then? Had it all been some strange dream, or was something else going on?

There was a sound she recognised as footsteps coming toward her and she tried vaguely again to push herself off the bed. But, once again, her arms failed her and she collapsed just as a small girl with blonde ringlets entered, carrying a bowl of water and a flannel.

As soon as she caught sight of Hikari, the porcelain bowl dropped to the floor and smashed.

"Oh my…" she whispered, trailing off with a lack of words. Her accent was thick and French, and it was definitely Catherine's. She quickly turned from the room and ran down the corridor as a feeling of disappointment filled her. She had already scared off the opportunity of a new friend just by trying to sit up. She was such a failure.

However footsteps could be heard a couple of minutes later, along with various excited words in French that Hikari could not understand. It was then that the blonde (Catherine) and another teen around the same age with brownish-orange hair in a high ponytail appeared in the doorway.

Where Catherine had a soft appearance with a pair of three-quarter jeans in a pale pink and a pink tank-top, the other girl had a rougher appearance. Her white t-shirt had cyan material covering her shoulders and a matching broken heart in the middle of her chest. Her arms were bare except for two maroon sweatbands around her wrists. She had a thick maroon belt around her waist holding up her dark ¾-length jeans. Around her right leg she had two strange, maroon bands, both with silver buckles at the front. She wore dirtied, worn trainers on her feet and she carried herself as though she ah a large ship on her shoulder.

"She's finally awake," the girl muttered in fluent Japanese.

Was she still in Japan?

"We've got to report this to Taichi at once," the slightly taller girl stated.

"Wait!" Catherine exclaimed. "We're supposed to report all activity to him, but we didn't report that she was here. It's going to be a little strange to say 'this girl we found three years ago just came out of a coma' when he doesn't even know we found a girl three years ago."

"Three years?" Hikari croaked, her voice raw. The two young women turned to her, looking as if they had forgotten her existence until she had spoken.

Catherine was the one who came over and sat at the foot of her bed.

"Yes," she whispered, "we found you three years ago in a recently abandoned hospital in a coma."

"How long have I been like that?"

"We've only been with you three years," she stated, "before that…I don't know. What was the last year you can remember?"

"2005," Hikari answered. Catherine seemed to pale.

"You've been in a come five years," she stated. "It's 2010."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

H-4-T: Ok, not bad, but they're getting shorter! I don't want to return to the sad days of 1,000 words a chapter! Don't make me!

Hikari: You're the one writing the chapters, so technically you control what's going into them.

H-4-T: I know…I know…

Takeru: And what's up with you making this a Takari? Shouldn't you be moving on to another couple now?

H-4-T: It's not a Takari.

Takeru: It's not?

H-4-T: No, it's not. (Sorry Takari fans)

Takeru: Face paling Then…who am I with?

H-4-T: All will be revealed in time.

Hikari: And who am I with?

H-4-T: Me to know, you to read and find out.

All three: Read and review!


End file.
